Program Leadership News
In September 2015, Brendan P. Kelly joined SEARCH as the program's first Executive Director. In this capacity Kelly is leading the day-to-day efforts of the SEARCH Science Office to implement SEARCH's vision and achieve the program's long-term science goals.
A membership rotation of the SEARCH Science Steering Committee (SSC) also occurred in September. As part of the rotation, SEARCH welcomed four new members: Betsy Baker (University of Vermont), Courtney Carothers (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Marika Holland (National Center for Atmospheric Research), and Dee Williams (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management). Additionally, the SSC elected Caspar Ammann (National Center for Atmospheric Research) to serve as the next SSC Chair. Ammann will take over this leadership role from Hajo Eicken in November. As the new Chair, Ammann will lead the Science Steering Committee's efforts to guide the SEARCH program. Eicken will continue to work with SEARCH as Past-Chair until the end of the Arctic Observing Summit in March of 2016.
Arctic Observing
The Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting (AOOSM) will be held in Seattle, Washington on 17-19 November 2015. Over 200 people will gather to:
* Present and discuss scientific findings and advances resulting from Arctic observing projects;
* Discuss operational and technological achievements of observing science projects and efforts funded through U.S. local, state, and federal agencies, and private and non-profit organizations;
* Explore how well new observational achievements meet major science goals;
* Identify opportunities for collaboration to develop high impact scientific synthesis products and papers; and
* Strengthen the goals, identity, and activities of an integrated Arctic Observing System.
SEARCH is also developing an updated vision and framework for effective and sustained observations in the Arctic, which will be released in November.
SEARCH Planning Meeting
In November 2015 the SEARCH Science Steering Committee, Action Team leads, and invited participants will meet in Seattle, WA following the Arctic Observing Open Science Meeting to discuss goals for the coming year. Meeting discussions will focus on defining activities, outcomes, and implementation plans for the SEARCH science themes, Arctic observing, and cross-cutting initiatives.
SEARCH Action Team Highlights
"Sea Ice" Action Team: Improve Understanding, Advance Prediction, and Explore Consequences of Changing Arctic Sea Ice
The SEARCH Sea Ice Action Team (SIAT), led by Jennifer Francis (Rutgers University) and Henry Huntington (Huntington Consulting), hosted its first workshop on 9-10 September 2015 in Bristol, Rhode Island to develop a strategy to support the Action Team's primary focus on science communication. The strategy document produced as part of the workshop is now available on the SEARCH website.
Two projects now in development by the SIAT include: 1) a science communication workshop, featuring Andy Revkin of The New York Times, which will be held December 2015 in San Francisco, CA as part of the American Geophysical Union's 2015 Fall Meeting and 2) the development of a "Sea Ice Matters" website that will include collaboratively developed, peer-reviewed, and concisely edited scientific content on a variety of topics.
More information is available through the SIAT webpages.
The "Permafrost" Action Team: Document and Understand How Degradation of Near-Surface Permafrost Will Affect Arctic and Global Systems
The SEARCH Permafrost Action Team (PAT), led by Ted Schuur (Northern Arizona University), will host an annual meeting of the Permafrost Carbon Network (PCN) on 13 December 2005 in San Francisco, CA. With co-sponsorship from the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the science synthesis activities of the Permafrost Carbon Network will help contribute to the Permafrost Action Team's ongoing efforts to link existing research about permafrost carbon and climate to global biospheric and climate models.
More information is available through the PAT webpages.
The "Land Ice" Action Team: Improve Predictions of Future Land Ice Loss and Impacts on Sea Level
The SEARCH Land Ice Action Team (LIAT), led by Fiamma Straneo (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and Ted Scambos (National Snow and Ice Data Center), will convene an international gathering of over 40 scientists, students, agency officials and Greenlandic stakeholders to discuss the design and implementation of a Greenland Ice Sheet Ocean Observing System (GrIOOS) in San Francisco, CA 12-13 December 2015.
The meeting, which is co-sponsored by the Climate & Cryosphere (CliC) project of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and the Greenland Ice Ocean Observing Network (GRISO), will be used to identify GrIOOS priorities, establish an implementation plan, and promote action within the existing network of international agencies that would contribute to GrIOOS development.
More information is available through the LIAT webpages.
SEARCH at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2015
SEARCH will host a variety of activities at this year's AGU Fall Meeting, including an open Town Hall, several SEARCH sessions and presentations, and workshops organized by the SEARCH Action Teams. The Town Hall, scheduled for Wednesday, 16 December from 12:30-1:30 p.m. PST, will provide a forum to discuss SEARCH plans and activities. Please visit the SEARCH at AGU webpage to learn more about the many SEARCH activities planned.
Sea Ice Prediction Network: A Contribution to SEARCH
The Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) team led a successful 2015 Sea Ice Outlook season. The Sea Ice Outlook process produced reports in June, July, and August containing a variety of predictions and perspectives on Arctic sea ice—from observations of current conditions, to advanced numerical models, to qualitative perspectives from citizen scientists. The 2015 season had a record number of contributions. The Leadership Team also continued a series of webinars, including a discussion of industry needs for seasonal and sub-seasonal ice information, and a discussion of the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook and summer sea-ice season. Two Action Teams were convened, one to evaluate the state of sea ice models and another to develop post-season products for the 2015 Sea Ice Outlook. A workshop focused on Arctic sea ice data will be held Monday, 14 December 12:00-1:00 p.m. PST. More information about the workshop will be distributed through the SIPN Mailing List.